Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2025 to Question 45355 on Personal Independence Payment, if she will make an assessment of the (a) causes of the increase in claims for PIP to include (i) health related and (ii) behaviour related factors and (b) the rate of increase in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness and disability over the same period.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of new claims registered for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) increased from around 41,000 a month in 2019 to 74,000 a month in 2024.
The number of economically inactive people who cite long-term sickness or disability as their main reason for inactivity increased from around 2.1 million in the last quarter (October to December) of 2019 to 2.8 million in the last quarter of 2024.
It is not possible to assess the relative contribution of each of the potential causes of the increase in PIP claims because it is likely that many different drivers are interacting with each other, both in aggregate and for individual claimants.
However, we will continue to monitor potential drivers of new claims demand for PIP. These include higher prevalence and recognition of health conditions, whether that’s driven by the direct health impacts of the COVID-19 virus; indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns on physical health (through reduced activity) and mental health (through reduced social interaction and increased anxiety); impacts of subsequent labour market changes and cost of living pressures on health; or increases in NHS waiting times. These potential causes in turn may interact with behavioural factors including: cost of living pressures; greater awareness of disability benefits (in part due to cost of living); longer waits for NHS treatment; economically inactive people being more likely to report long-term illness or disability as their main reason for inactivity; and incentives in the benefit system that can encourage people to claim health-related benefits.
Sources:
(a) PIP new claim registrations taken from Stat-Xplore (Stat-Xplore - Log in), excluding Reassessments from Disability Living Allowance and excluding claims from people living in Scotland, because policy ownership was devolved to Scotland during this period.
(b) Estimates of economically inactive people by main reason are published by the Office for National Statistics in Table INAC01 SA of their Labour Market Overview (Labour market overview, UK - Office for National Statistics). Estimates are seasonally adjusted and relate to people aged 16-64 in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help support employees facing redundancy at Moog Reading.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper focuses on building a thriving labour market, reducing economic inactivity and increasing the number of people in work, which is central to growing the economy.
DWP provides Rapid Redundancy Support (RRS) to both Employers and Individuals following notification from the National RRS team or via the DWP Strategic Relationship Team and Insolvency Service.
Local Employer Advisors will make contact with the Employers/Individuals to offer support as a matter of urgency. Support is tailored and can vary depending on the scale of the redundancy and the level of support required. This can include:
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has conducted quantitative analysis into the potential causes of increases in claims for Personal Independence Payment into shares attributable to (a) underlying ill health, (b) financial incentives and (c) other personal or behavioural factors; and whether such analysis includes a comparison with the rate of increase in economic inactivity due to long-term sickness or disability over the same period.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not conducted quantitative analysis exactly as described; however, we do regularly monitor potential drivers of new claims demand for PIP and how this compares with changes in disability prevalence in the population. It is likely that both health-related and behaviour-related factors have been important contributory factors in the rising number of claims for PIP, as well as changes in the population, with demand for PIP accelerating since the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of health-related factors may have contributed to these increases, including: higher prevalence and recognition of health conditions, particularly mental health and neurodiverse conditions; the direct health impacts of the COVID-19 virus; indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns on physical health (through reduced activity) and mental health (through reduced social interaction and increased anxiety); impacts of subsequent labour market changes and cost of living pressures on health; and increases in NHS waiting times.
In addition, a number of behavioural factors are also likely to have contributed to higher numbers claiming incapacity and disability benefits, including: cost of living pressures; greater awareness of disability benefits (in part due to cost of living); longer waits for NHS treatment; economically inactive people being more likely to report long-term illness or disability as their main reason for inactivity; and incentives in the benefit system that can encourage people to claim health-related benefits.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the uptake of Carer’s Allowance as a result of proposed tightening of PIP eligibility criteria on (a) rates of poverty among carers, (b) carers’ labour market participation and (c) levels of demand for public services.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has yet been conducted.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming the daily living part of Personal Independence Payment scored fewer than four points in each of the daily living activities (a) by sex, (b) by age, (c) by ethnicity and (d) in total.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
The Department does not hold data on the ethnicity of all PIP claimants on its computer systems, since it is not required for the administration of benefit. Information on the ethnicity of PIP claimants is available from the Family Resources Survey: financial year 2023 to 2024 (Table 2.10), but this cannot be related to PIP point scores.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people claiming Carer’s Allowance are caring for a person who scores fewer than four points for each individual descriptor in the daily living part of Personal Independence Payment (a) by sex, (b) by ethnicity and (c) in total.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
The Department does not hold data on the ethnicity of all PIP claimants on its computer systems, since it is not required for the administration of benefit. Information on the ethnicity of PIP claimants is available from the Family Resources Survey: financial year 2023 to 2024 (Table 2.10), but this cannot be related to PIP point scores.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her Department's data on the gender pensions gap in private pensions of the ONS's latest release of the Wealth and Assets Survey, published on 24 January 2025.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department is committed to both monitoring and narrowing the Gender Pension Gap and we are currently exploring the latest Wealth and Asset survey, provided by the ONS, with the aim of publishing an update on the Gender Pension Gap publication in due course.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of (a) the number of constituents in Earley and Woodley who will be impacted by the proposed reforms to the Work Capability Assessment and (b) the average financial impact on those individuals of those reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold constituency-level information about the specific Work Capability Assessment descriptors met by claimants, so we are unable to estimate impacts for individual constituencies robustly.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of (a) the number of constituents in Earley and Woodley who will be affected by reductions in sickness benefits announced at the budget and (b) the average financial impact of those reductions on individuals.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No reductions in sickness benefits were announced at the Budget.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, how many people claim benefits that were uprated at the Budget in (a) Earley and Woodley constituency, (b) each region and (c) the UK.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The estimated number of individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits in the financial year 2025/26 in each region of the UK and the UK overall can be found here Benefit uprating: estimated number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits in financial year 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
An assessment cannot be made at a constituency level however official statistics for the number of people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit, Universal Credit and other benefits uprated at the Budget are published regularly on Stat-Xplore, with breakdowns available by various geographical areas, including Westminster parliamentary constituency.
The latest statistics are available to September 2024 for Universal Credit, and February 2024 for the other benefits listed above. Universal Credit statistics to October 2024 are due to be published on 12 November 2024, and for the other benefits to May 2024 on 28 November 2024. In February 2024 the Accredited Official Statistics for State Pension were suspended due to issues with processing data from the new Get Your State Pension (GYSP) system. The Accredited Official Statistics for State Pension will be reinstated in the release of statistics on 28 November 2024.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.